Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, known for his caricatures of Mohammed in the ‘Jyllands-Posten’ that sparked protests in Muslim countries, has died at the age of 86. The Berlingske newspaper reports that Westergaard had been ill for some time. Cartoonist for the ‘Jyllands-Posten’ since the 1980s, he became internationally known in 2005 for a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb as a turban. The cartoon was part of a series of 12 to challenge censorship in Islam. The comics sparked street protests in Denmark, but also at the embassies of Muslim countries in the country. In February 2006 the protests spread to the rest of the world, the embassies of Denmark were attacked and there were dozens of deaths.
After the cartoons were published, Westergaard received numerous death threats and was repeatedly the victim of attempted murders. In 2008, Danish intelligence announced the arrest of three people accused of planning the murder of Westergaard. Two years later, Danish police captured a 28-year-old Somali man armed with a knife in his home. Mohamed Geele, 29, was convicted of attempted murder and terrorism and sentenced to nine years in 2011. Westergaard had to live with a bodyguard at secret addresses in his later years. He never regretted his work, claiming that his cartoons had sparked an ” important ” discussion within Islam